Part 1: What is Executive Presence?

Introduction

This is the first in a series of articles I am publishing on the topic of Embodied Executive Presence (EEP). Don’t know what that is? Read on. But as a teaser, I will tell you that EEP is your secret weapon to get ahead in the corporate world. While everyone else is learning a bunch of cognitive-level skills, you’ll be learning to embody the energies of a true leader. Through this work, you’ll develop the capacity for more Groundedness (which naturally draws others to your lead) and more Clarity (through which you more effectively catalyze others into action). This is what I teach to my clients every day.

If you’re interested in accelerating your career in a way that others aren’t, keep reading. I’ll publish one new article in the series approximately once a week on my blog (embodiedexecutivepresence.com/blog) and on LinkedIn.

Part 1: What is Executive Presence?

I read a great quote the other day: “Your energy introduces you before you say a single word.” I thought this was quite profound. Somehow we humans can sense all kinds of things about other people without them verbalizing at all.

You actually already know this, because you’ve certainly experienced this in your own life. Some people just have a certain energy that draws you to them. Makes you trust them. In your social life, this may feel like charisma. But in the working world, it is more than that. It feels like they have things handled, and you experience their expression and direction as having a lot of clarity. They exude an air of personal power, one that makes you more willing to follow their lead. We call this executive presence.

Most people have a hard time specifically defining executive presence. In fact, according to the Tracom Group, 51% of human resources practitioners state executive presence is difficult to define – but 81% say it’s easy to spot.

For the moment, let’s put aside the topic of how exactly to develop your own executive presence. First, we’ll discuss WHY you’d want to develop it.

I think most people would say it’s obvious - of course you want to have a way of being that makes others trust you more and want to follow you. It would naturally lead to more respect, career advancement, and opportunity. And, clearly, being trusted and followed would lead to greater job satisfaction. You’ll rise faster and be happier along the way.

So, if the impetus for building your executive presence is so obvious, let’s dare to ask the dumb question: why do so few people actually do something about it?

In my 20 year experience in the tech industry and Silicon Valley, the main reason is simple but honest ignorance. Most people just don’t realize what their own way of being might be communicating about them. Specifically, the ways that they broadcast untrustability, a lack of clarity or boldness, distractedness or lack of focus, or just a general flatness of energy. It doesn’t mean they are bad people or ineffective workers. It’s just that they see themselves through the lens of the tangibles rather than intangibles. They simply aren’t aware of the latter within themselves.

This is rooted in corporate culture’s fixation on relying on cognitive experience and abilities to get ahead. You focus on getting the right resume bullets, developing your analytical capabilities, and having just enough EQ to get along appropriately with your co-workers. But, collectively, you pay little explicit attention to your ‘way of being’. It simply has not become part of mainstream corporate culture to explicitly train in these areas.

Yes, there are an infinite number of training classes on leadership. And yet, in my experience, almost all of them simply teach more cognitive skills about leadership.

There are also many options for EQ training for the work environment, but this is different.

So, from this backdrop, the world of executive presence, and associated training industry, was born. I personally believe this offers a huge opportunity for employees at all levels to accelerate their success and career. Why? First, because of what I said before: the mainstream of corporate employees aren’t thinking about this. So, while everyone else is building more cognitive technical or leadership skills, you’re working on your way of being. Let this be your secret weapon to get ahead.

But…

…there’s still a problem.

I’ve talked about executive presence being about developing your ‘way of being’ and the flavor of energy that you exude while on the job. But, unfortunately, most of the executive presence teachers don’t quite get it. They’re still actually teaching tactical skills. What to DO instead of training you in how to BE.

But that “energy that introduces you” doesn’t take the form of skills. It actually lives down at the nervous system level, beneath the cognitive learning. If your executive presence training doesn’t start by focusing there, you are missing out on the ability to reach your full potential. This is the core of how EEP is different from traditional EP. I'll explain more about this in subsequent articles.